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Calgary, Alta. – Five local food processors are benefiting from government grants.

The federal and provincial governments announced in a statement that they are providing nearly $5 million to help the food processors “expand capacity and improve efficiency so they can grow their businesses.”

Lawrence MacAulay, the federal minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, and Oneil Carlier, Alberta’s minister of Agriculture and Forestry, made the announcement at Village Brewing Co., one of the companies receiving some of the financial support.

“This funding helps us continue to invest in growing our company by improving our operations, making us more efficient and helping make our products more competitive,” says Steve Anderchek, business manager at Village Brewing.

The statement lists all the companies receiving funding:

• CadCan Marketing & Sales Inc. – to purchase equipment to develop a gluten-free pellet formula for its air-puffed, low-fat and gluten-free snack products.
• H. Hein Foods – To implement new equipment to improve efficiency, expand capacity to meet increased demand and diversify production for poultry, beef and pork products.
• Just BioFiber Structural Solutions – to purchase and install a commercial-scale plant to turn hemp stalks into building material.
• Basha International Foods Inc. (two grants) – to increase its capacity to debone whole chicken leg meat.
• Village Brewing Co. Ltd. – to add a canning line and centrifuge to its craft brewery.

Both governments say the grants are made through Growing Forward 2, “a provincial-territorial partnership with a mandate to drive an innovative, competitive and profitable Canadian agriculture and agri-food sector.